Whatever Happened To Dani Actress Thora Birch From Hocus Pocus?
Thora Birch has been performing in Hollywood since she was just a tiny tyke, famously playing Dani Dennison in the cult Halloween classic "Hocus Pocus," where she becomes the target of the malevolent Sanderson sisters. But although one of her most memorable roles came in 1993, when she was just 11 years old, that was far from the end of her career as an actress. Birch has continued to work in the industry, lending her talents to television series, films, music videos, and even podcasts over the years.
Birch's career has been defined by a few standout performances in films that captured the imaginations of audiences everywhere, but one of the most inspiring aspects of her time in Hollywood is that whenever she has been in danger of being completely subsumed by these larger-than-life roles, she shifts gears, navigating a career as a performer on her own terms. If you haven't given much thought to Thora Birch outside of her work in "Hocus Pocus," here's what she's been up to since then.
Earliest performances came on TV
Although Thora Birch is best known for her work on the big screen, she got her start in the world of 1980s sitcoms. In 1988, at the tender age of six, she was cast as Molly in "Day by Day," a comedy about a wealthy, white-collar couple (played by Doug Sheehan and Linda Kelsey) who decide to leave their high-paying jobs in the city so that they can open up an in-home daycare instead. But are they getting themselves into more than they bargained for? Obviously. It's a 1980s sitcom, after all.
"Day by Day" never made a huge mark on the TV world, and it was canceled after just two years on NBC. During that time, Thora Birch was featured in 30 episodes, nearly the entire series run. Although most people don't remember the show, Birch is in good company getting her start on it — "Day by Day" also starred Julia Louis-Dreyfus in her first recurring TV roles as Eileen, the stockbroker colleague of Brian Harper (Doug Sheehan). At such a young age, a lead role in a network sitcom was a massive credit for Birch to have on her resume, paving the way for a shining career as a child star in the 1990s.
Career as a young actress after Hocus Pocus
After making "Hocus Pocus" – which was not initially a success, inexplicably released by Disney in July and only becoming a Halloween staple when it was aired on television in following years — Thora Birch continued to work as a child and teen actor throughout the 1990s. She had a series of leading and supporting roles after this, including "Monkey Trouble" (in which she starred opposite a real-life capuchin monkey) and "Clear and Present Danger," where she played the young daughter of Tom Clancy's recurring character Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford).
Her next big film was the 1990s coming-of-age classic "Now and Then," where she played Teeny, one of a quartet of preteen girls growing up in 1970. Although it captured nostalgia for an earlier decade, it struck a chord with young audiences in 1995, helping to make stars out of its teen actors (you'll also note among its cast members the always delightful Christina Ricci and '90s heartthrob Devon Sawa). From there, Birch continued to work steadily throughout the rest of the decade, although the type of roles she took on began to shift as she made her way through adolescence in the spotlight.
Made an impression in American Beauty
The first major indicator that young actress Thora Birch was indeed growing up was her performance in the award-winning "American Beauty." She plays Jane, the insecure teen daughter of Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening's troubled suburban couple. While her father becomes infatuated (some might say obsessed) with her best friend Angela (Mena Suvari) after a now-iconic cheerleading routine, Jane strikes up an acquaintance with Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley), the oddball boy next door whose fascination with an achingly beautiful plastic bag floating in the wind is one of the film's most memorable moments.
"American Beauty" was a massive hit among both audiences and the Academy, ultimately taking home five Oscars. Thora Birch's performance was equally acclaimed; She was part of the group that won the Screen Actors Guild award for outstanding cast, and she was nominated individually at the BAFTAs for best supporting actress. And with her first topless scene — one that, controversially, took place while she was still underage, requiring her parents' approval and presence on set — she left her career as a child star firmly in the rearview mirror.
Broke the mold in Ghost World
"American Beauty" was a massive success, but Thora Birch was still just one cog in the wheel of the ensemble cast. "Ghost World" is where she came into her own as a leading actress, pulling double duty with Scarlett Johannson in a generation-defining coming-of-age story.
Birch stars as Enid, a cynical teenager who feels a little bit as if "Daria" came to life. Her best friend is Rebecca (Johannson), and together they use their wry sense of humor to make fun of the world, including Seymour (Steve Buscemi), a lonely middle-aged man whom they prank into thinking he has a date with a woman. But when he shows up at the diner for his date, Enid begins to sympathize with him and decides to help him with his romantic life. As she embarks on this project, she and Rebecca begin to drift apart, fracturing their friendship in ways that they might never recover from.
Although "Ghost World" wasn't a major hit at the box office, it received critical praise and was even nominated for an Oscar for its screenplay. Like many quirky, offbeat black comedies, it wasn't fully appreciated until long after it left theaters, but over the years it has developed a significant cult following, striking a chord with teenagers for its unflinching look at adolescent ennui.
Fired from a stage production of Dracula
Like many young actors, Thora Birch became interested in taking on the new challenge of performing on stage. In 2010, the 28-year-old actress was hired for an off-Broadway production of "Dracula," in which she was cast as Lucy, one of Dracula's ill-fated victims. But just a few days before the show opened, news broke that Birch had been fired. The director, Paul Alexander, was quick to acknowledge that her being let go wasn't a reflection of her performance, but rather her father Jack Birch's overbearing presence behind the scenes. He had been a constant presence at rehearsals — which was unusual and disruptive enough — but the straw that broke the camel's back was when he allegedly threatened one of his daughter's castmates for touching her during one of their scenes together.
Although Birch's father claimed that he was just trying to "convey Thora's discomfort" with the intimate gesture, the commotion this caused was enough to lead the production to replace the actress with her understudy. She claimed to have been taken by surprise by the firing, telling The New York Times, "For three weeks I was just doing my thing, and everything I hear was positive, that the work I was doing was wonderful. Maybe it's some kind of misunderstanding. I mean, there had been no tensions, everything was going wonderfully. Then Friday they just asked me to leave the building."
She also continued to defend her father, saying, "My dad is my support, and he is the best support that I could ever have." Since the production of "Dracula," she hasn't attempted any other stage work.
Made her directorial debut
Although Thora Birch is best known for her work as an actor, she's tried her hand behind the camera as well. In 2022, she made her directorial debut with the Lifetime film "The Gabby Petito Story" starring Skyler Samuels and Evan Hall, and Birch appears in a supporting role as Gabby Petito's mother. A true crime thriller, the film revolves around the case of Gabby Petito, who went missing while on a road trip with her fiance. It captures the complexity of their frequently dysfunctional relationship, and how it descended into horrific violence at some point along their journey. Although it certainly has its flaws — it dramatizes a real-life relationship, the details of which are largely made up for effect — it launched Birch as a bona fide director, showcasing her ability to run a set.
"The Gabby Petito Story" doesn't seem like it will be her last time behind the camera, either. In May 2023, it was announced that she was signed on to direct an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's crime novel "Mr. Paradise." She had high praise for Leonard, saying in a statement released to Deadline, ""I find his world of bumbling criminal characters, snappy dialogue, and constant pursuit of sex and status endlessly entertaining."
Replaced in Wednesday
Thora Birch has more than her fair share of 1990s Halloween cred, so it makes sense that she would be included in "Wednesday," Netflix's modern spinoff of "The Addams Family" starring Jenna Ortega. She was originally cast as a character named Tamara Novak, a teacher at Nevermore Academy who was also Wednesday's dorm mother. But Birch left the production mid-shoot, with a studio representative telling Deadline, "Thora has returned to the States to attend to a personal matter and will not be returning to the production." She later elaborated on her departure, giving the impression that it was the result of creative differences between her and the production team. "I had filmed a certain amount and there were some questions about how much more to go with that character, and there were just some changes and adjustments made," she explained to Entertainment Tonight.
After she left "Wednesday," the character was retooled, and they eventually brought in former Wednesday actor Christina Ricci as Marilyn Thornhill, the only "normie" teacher at Nevermore Academy and a botany enthusiast with a dark secret.
Joined a popular TV series
There was a moment in time when "The Walking Dead" was peak horror on television, and although the buzz surrounding it faded the longer it had been on the air, it was still a popular series over the course of its entire run, generating multiple spinoffs. Thora Birch joined the show in its 10th season, taking on the role of Mary, aka Gamma, the third in command of the Whisperers, a group of survivors with the unsettling habit of wearing the skin of the undead to escape being noticed by the walkers. She was on "The Walking Dead" for nine episodes, over which she was given a full character arc, taking Mary through a range of different emotions and perspectives.
Birch spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the appeal of the role, something that was far out of her wheelhouse in terms of what she'd done before as an actor. "There were certain themes running throughout the season regarding PTSD, and duplicitousness, and some spy elements that intrigued me right away. Also, I love sweating my butt off and stabbing things that are already dead. So I was super excited ... I was just happy to get in front of that special effects mirror and have them pour a mold over my head and make me a cast of zombie skin."
Starred in a narrative podcast
Thora Birch has done television and film throughout her career, but in 2022, she got the opportunity to add podcasts to her resume. She starred in "Overleaper," a narrative podcast that blends a military thriller with science fiction, launched by Realm. In it, Birch plays Audrey Beach, a military officer who has gone through a painful divorce and clings to her daughter Lydia as her one last talisman of a happy life. But her world is turned upside down when she is confronted with her doppelganger from another universe — where Lydia is murdered and Audrey goes into full dark mode as a result.
Birch's character not only has to grapple with the fact that there's someone walking around with her face, but attempt to stop the alternate version of herself from assassinating the U.S. president. Audrey considers this a big deal not just because the president's death would be devastating for national defense, but also because it isn't exactly ideal to have your exact double caught up in a terrorist plot — people go to jail for that kind of thing.
Although the subject matter is different from Birch's normal projects, it's easy to see why she would be interested in tackling a new medium. "Hollywood is a lot different than it was like three, five and seven years ago," she explained in an interview with Collider. "That's what's so interesting about the fictionalized podcast space. It's almost a return to the old radio dramas and sagas from the '20s and '30s that were pretty much the only access to storytelling for a lot of households, in any live fashion."
Made a cameo in a critically acclaimed indie
"The Last Black Man in San Francisco" is a defiant death rattle in the war against urban gentrification, especially in a city like San Francisco, which has been subsumed by tech startups. Jimmie Fails (played by himself) is a man who is determined to renovate the charming but dilapidated Victorian house that he claims was built by his grandfather, and he's not about to let the fact that someone else currently owns it get in the way of his dreams. With the help of his best friend Mont, played by Jonathan Majors, he decides to squat there — one less house that can be taken over by the gentrifiers who have made his city unrecognizable.
Thora Birch only has one scene in the film, but she makes it count. In it, she plays a woman named Becca who sits on the bus with her friend, loudly complaining about how much she hates San Francisco. Jimmie, who is riding opposite them, is offended by this, delivering one of the most memorable lines in the film as he tells them simply, "You don't get to hate it unless you love it."
Although the scene stands on its own at face value, it also serves as a callback to one of Birch's most famous film roles, that of Enid in "Ghost World." At its conclusion, Enid gets on a bus, headed for parts unknown, making the fact that she reappears here still on a bus a loving nod to a movie that inspired "The Last Black Man in San Francisco" director Joe Talbot. "I always felt her character and Jimmy are similar in a lot of ways, and she got that immediately," Talbot told the San Francisco Examiner. "She and I would joke like, at the end of 'Ghost World' when she gets on the bus, it's like she never got off the bus and wound up in San Francisco working a tech job she hates."
Couldn't appear in Hocus Pocus 2
Thora Birch has always been appreciative of "Hocus Pocus," which has attracted such a devoted following who have only grown in number over the years. In 2013, she took part in a special 20th-anniversary screening of the film in California, which saw the majority of the cast reunited for a Q&A session. But when production began on "Hocus Pocus 2," bringing back the iconic Sanderson sisters (played by Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker), Birch was nowhere to be seen — not for lack of interest on her part, though.
"I was just a little dismayed I wasn't able to make it," she told Entertainment Tonight. "I was working on something else when they were filming, otherwise I was definitely going to be there on set with the girls ... I can't wait to see what they do with it. I know they're taking a completely different, fresh approach, so I'm excited." Birch isn't the only one who didn't return for the film's sequel though. Original "Hocus Pocus" stars Omri Katz and Vinessa Shaw were also absent from the production. Here's hoping all three make an appearance in the potential "Hocus Pocus 3" that may or may not be in the works.